Post-Renaissance (and later)

As a whole, the Middle Ages (c.1000-1450)
and later centuries incorporating the Renaissance,
Baroque, Rococo
and Neo-Classical styles
of painting and sculpture,
was a relatively dormant period in the history
of Irish art. Although Celtic art (eg. knotwork patterns) was noticed
by certain Renaissance artists like Michelangelo
and Leonardo Da Vinci,
the impact of Irish culture on the great European art movements of the
period was minimal, and for good reason. After the Norman invasion of
England in 1066, Ireland together with its Celtic neighbours in Wales
and Scotland was constantly pressurized by Anglo-Norman barons and the
forces of the English Crown, leading to a suppression of Irish cultural
life as well as the dissolution of the monasteries - themselves a bastion
of Irish Christian culture.

Not surprisingly, all three Celtic countries
experienced severe social and economic difficulties during the 1600s,
1700s and 1800s, culminating in the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s.
Many people from Ireland emigrated to the United States and Australia,
or moved to the industrial cities of Britain in search of food and work,
leading to a consequent decline in Irish culture and language. For example,
while most native Irish people spoke Irish until the early nineteenth
century, by 1891, 84 percent of Irish people only spoke English.

Even so, Irish culture never disappeared.
While the dissolution of the (Catholic) monasteries severely diminished
the role of the Church as a patron of Irish arts, it was followed by the
emergence of numerous guilds of craftworkers, from whom new generations
of Anglo-Irish aristocracy and prosperous merchants commissioned works
of art (portraits and landscapes).
For example, a painters' guild was set up in 1670, whose members included
such artists as Garret
Morphy and James
Latham, while other decorative craftsmen such as goldsmiths, silversmiths,
and stained glass workers also
established their own guilds and gradually began to prosper.

The visual arts
in Ireland also benefited during the eighteenth century, from the
twin effects of growing prosperity (among the ruling classes) and the
influence of the European Enlightenment which led to the construction
of a number of public buildings of noted architectural style, such as
the Custom House and Four Courts (architect James Gandon) and the Parliament
House, now the Bank of Ireland (architect Edward Lovett Pearce). (For
a pictorial view of Dublin's architecture in 1800, see the outstanding
aquatint engravings by James
Malton). New cultural institutions, such as the Royal
Dublin Society (founded 1731) and the Royal
Irish Academy (founded 1785) were established. Meanwhile, eighteenth
century Irish artists like George
Barret Senior (1732-84) and James
Barry (1741-1806) began to include new ideas (eg. from the Irish philosopher
Edmund Burke) in their paintings using classical and mythological allusions.

However, despite this gradual rise in Irish
culture, the arts in Ireland were chiefly the preserve of the rich aristocracy.
Irish painting and Irish
sculpture was created for a relatively small clientele by artists
who, in their attempt to please their patrons, rarely sought inspiration
from Ireland's Celtic artistic traditions. As the country passed into
the nineteenth century,
a growing demand for self-rule, if not outright independence, began to
be heard throughout the land. Over the next century this would lead to
the establishment of the Irish State (1921) and the emergence of new creative
forms which more accurately reflected the culture of Ireland.

 For information about the cultural
history of Ireland during the Middle Ages, see: Irish
Art Guide.
 For more on the history of Medieval art throughout Europe, see: Homepage.